Daiso Petit Trains

As some of you know I've been looking at the Daiso trains/system to see if it has any cross-over with the old Takara PlaRail range. With this in mind I purchased some items, track, scenery items and now a loco from a guy in Japan off eBay.

Anyway it turns out they are not compatible, the Daiso wheels do not fit the Takara track at all - which is not surprising as the Takara is a groove in a flat track as the wheels on the Takara locos are very similar to real train wheels with a 'lip' on them (these fit into the grooves). However there is the possibility that it may work the opposite way, but I've not had a chance to get anything setup to try yet. Curiously the Daiso loco's do seem to fit onto the standard Tomy blue track, so they may well work nicely there, another thing I need to experiment with (maybe over the weekend)

Anyway I'm adding some pictures comparing the track types so you can see the relative sizes, designs etc... Along with some pics of the Daiso loco set I bought, one oddity with the Daiso's is that the power car is always the centre car (bit like PlaRail advance). It is also designed in such a way that normally you are limited to a 3 car train as the couplings are both on the centre car with simply a 'bar' to click into on the leading/trailing cars. Although with a bit of jiggery-pockery and a 3D printer I'm sure that could be got round

Anyway onto the pics, hope this helps you guys see what this range has to offer;

Three track types, top to bottom Tomy, Daiso, Takara


Daiso



My 'test' loco purchase an EF66 with 2 coaches





Power car







Trailer car


Train on the Daiso track and with a Tomy car for comparison



Overall I think its quite a nice looking train with quite good levels of detail considering the incredibly low price these trains sell for. The power car runs on a single AA battery (nice tight fit) and is almost silent in operation. I can see myself getting some more of this stuff as it is so cheap to buy, I got a substantial range of bits (about 15 packs) for not much over £20 including the loco. Ironically the shipping as it was from Japan was about the same as the cost of the items ROTFL!!!

Anyway there you go, enjoy

Well at least it looks great! Say can the powered car move without being turned on, like Plarail?

Hi Rokman,

No unfortunately it is like the new revolution engines, permanently geared with no clutch so it doesn't free-wheel. Although I suppose if you removed the traction tyre it probably would as it has 4 axles per car (like a real train)


Cheers, Nigel

Well that's somewhat of a relief. I was planning to order one (Or two. Or three...) and I was wondering if they did. Thanks.

Does that mean you're not going to get any now? Despite the non-freewheeling they are still worth having and cheap enough that if you wanted a longer train you could buy extra power cars and cannibalise one to replace the motor axle with a free wheel one to make it into a non-powered centre/trailing car

Does that mean you're not going to get any now?

I will, don't you worry about that. I just wanted to know about the free wheeling axles. I just need to do some modifications to it.

Good to hear, I think these things are vastly underrated and ignored which is a shame as they are great value for money. Mind you if nobody is interested that means more for me and you

[Super]

LOL...and the hundreds of visitors that pass by here daily

[Ucwepn]

I have a big box full (complete set of the first series?) but no track to run them on haha

I have a big box full (complete set of the first series?) but no track to run them on haha

That's ok, I got a few more coming and plenty of track and accessories to run them on

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LOL...and the hundreds of visitors that pass by here daily

Good luck to them and more fool for them not signing up lol!!